Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 12:06:13 +0200
From: Bjoern Skolander
Subject: ZIMBABWE: Harassment of Lesbian GALZ Member
## author : ifex@web.apc.org
## date : 08.08.96
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International Freedom of Expression eXchange Clearing House
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Date: 8 August 1996
ZIMBABWE: Crowd ransacks gay organisation's display table at
Zimbabwe International Book Fair
ORIGINATOR: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA),
Windhoek
**Updates IFEX alerts dated 1 August and 29 July 1996**
At the close of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF)
on 3 August 1996, a mob comprised of mainly University of
Zimbabwe students ransacked a stand at which the gay
organisation Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) was
exhibiting its literature. A journalist who claims to have
been present at the time said that the mob "ransacked the
GALZ stand, tore up and carried away literature found on
display." The journalist, who asked for anonymity, added
that "it appears this was a state-organised action to
deliberately intimidate and prevent GALZ from exhibiting at
the Fair. Even the police stayed idle as the mob went on
destroying materials at the stand." He said that it was the
same mob that forced GALZ from exhibiting earlier on 2
August.
GALZ Administrator Keith Goddard confirmed reports of
violence, but said that his organisation had already vacated
the stand at the time the mob moved in the Book Fair
grounds. "First, we saw a group of journalists who appeared
to have been tipped of the coming mob. Then we quickly left
and later some people told us that our stand had been
attacked and literature which included informative and
educational materials torn," he said. Goddard said that most
of their literature had "fortunately" already been
distributed when the mob arrived.
However, GALZ member Polyana Mangwiro reported that she has
been asked by Zimbabwe authorities to leave her home in the
town of Marondera. "Someone took a picture of me at the Fair
which I suspect was sent to my home town in Marondera for
easy identification. Later after the Fair ZANU-PF officials
within my home town approached me and said: `we don't want
to see you here again, you must leave the town.' They
repeatedly came to my house from Saturday to Monday 5)
asking me to leave." Mangwiro said that she has since left
her home in Marondera for Harare.
Goddard later issued a statement in which he wrote: "GALZ's
participation at the ZIBF represents strong advances in the
battle for freedom of expression and cultural diversity in
Zimbabwe." He further said that GALZ held "in utter contempt
any persons resorting to primitive violence when putting
across their point of view." The Book Fair authorities, the
statement added, had the duty to uphold the fundamental
principle of freedom of expression, and it was essential
that they provide adequate protection to all exhibitors. The
statement went on to say that threats against GALZ were
coming from a mob led by a "prominent public prosecutor who
told journalists he did not care about High Court rulings."
(Before the ZIBF opened, Zimbabwe authorities obtained an
order to ban GALZ from exhibiting at the Fair. On 31 July,
the High Court ruled the government prohibition order on
GALZ invalid; see IFEX alerts.) Goddard said in the
statement that culture belonged to all in Zimbabwe and that
it was not a property of any one group. "Dictations from
politicians that all persons within a nation shall conform
to a single set of cultural norms is loathsome in the
extreme and to be challenged forcefully at every time," said
the statement.
For further information, contact David Lush or David
Nthengwe at MISA, Private Bag 13386, Windhoek, Namibia,
tel:+264 61 232975, fax:+264 61 248016, e-mail:
dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na, research@ingrid.misa.org.na.
The information contained in this alert update is the sole
responsibility of its originator.
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